The
arrest of former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta for acting in porn movies has
put Himachal in the spotlight. Many of the films that featured Anara were
allegedly shot in the state. Anara was pushed into flesh trade by Narender
Kohli, a cable operator in Jammu. He had got in touch with Anara’s
family after she won the Miss Jammu beauty pageant and convinced them
she had a future in films. Anara claims Kohli raped her one day when her
parents had gone to office. He then threatened her not to divulge this
to anybody. In the months of blackmail that followed, he took her to Kullu
and Manali where he forced her to act in porn movies.

“Last year he convinced my parents that he is taking me to a fashion
show in Himachal Pradesh. He forced me to sleep with his associate Yogesh
Sharma, saying that he was a Bollywood producer and he would change my
life. He made a blue film of me and Yogesh, promising that it will not
harm me. I was helpless. I had to agree,” says Anara. Narender then
used the video to blackmail her into flesh trade.

Anara’s is not the only instance of porn film shooting in Himachal.
Several other movies filmed in the state are being sold under titles of
Miss Manali, Miss Mandi, Miss Sundarnagar, etc. Last year, the police
arrested seven people in Kullu for selling blue films. As many as 1,500
cds of porn movies were recovered from the arrested.
Porn films are either made clandestinely or with the help of sex workers
who either hide their faces or belong to unknown places. Films are shot
in hotels and are dubbed and edited in Chandigarh or nearby cities. The
films seized in Kullu last year featured popular folk songs, an indication
of involvement of locals.

"Tourist spots are fast turning into major flesh trade centres. Sex
workers, masseurs, dancers, drugs and blue films are available even in
remote tourist spots," says a Manali-based hotelier, who declined
to be named.

The police however deny porn films are made in the state. “The racket
which was busted last year only dubbed local folk songs in the blue films.
So far we have not found any clue that the films were shot in Himachal
Pradesh. The state police will render full cooperation to the J&K
Police. We will not spare any guilty if Anara Gupta’s charges proved
true,” says AK Puri, director general of police.

“We haven’t received any information from the J&K Police
yet on the Anara case. We have come to know about the revelations through
newspaper reports only. We cannot say anything until we get a copy of
the film and match it with the location where it was shot,” says
Anand Pratap Singh, sp, Kullu.

Meanwhile, Anara Gupta’s arrest and the attention it got in the
media has come as a windfall for sellers of porn films. There has been
a significant increase in the demand for blue films. The cds which were
available for just Rs 50 earlier are now fetching Rs 450 or more.